Disable IE10 Automatic Update via Group Policy

In this post we will see the steps to disable IE10 automatic update via group policy. Microsoft distributes Internet Explorer 10 as a high-priority update through Automatic Updates for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) x86 and x64, and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 x64. To disable IE 10 automatic update via group policy we can make use of a toolkit provided by Microsoft called IE 10Blocker Toolkit which is intended for organizations that would like to block automatic delivery of Internet Explorer 10 to machines in environments where Automatic Updates is enabled.

Once you download the IE 10 blocker toolkit, run the toolkit and provide a folder where the contents of toolkit are extracted. This toolkit contains two components: An executable blocker script (IE10_Blocker.cmd) and a Group Policy Administrative Template (.ADM file) (IE10_Blocker.adm)

If you want to disable IE10 automatic update via group policy then you can make use of IE10_Blocker.adm template. We will use the same template to disable IE10 automatic update. But before that let’s understand what the executable blocker script contains.

When you execute the IE 10 automatic update blocker script, the script creates a registry key and sets the associated value to block or unblock (depending on the command-line option used) automatic delivery of Internet Explorer 10 on either the local machine or a remote target machine.

Disable IE10 Automatic Update via Group Policy

In this section we will make use of the Group Policy Administrative Template .ADM file (IE10_Blocker.adm)– which allows administrators to import the new Group Policy settings to block or unblock automatic delivery of Internet Explorer 10 into their Group Policy environment, and use Group Policy to centrally execute the action across systems in their environment.

Log on to the domain controller, launch the Group Policy Management tool, right click on the domain name and create a new group policy. Right click the policy and click Edit.